First Look: 2018 Ford Mustang

Significant changes include new look, performance upgrades filtered down from the GT350 – and louder exhaust!

by
Derek McNaughton | January 17, 2017

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DEARBORN, Mich. — It’s early dawn and a cold Michigan snow is riding the wind, yet inside a warm and brightly lit room in a corner of Ford’s Product Development Center sits a car 54 years in the making — a 2018 Ford Mustang in metallic Orange Fury with black wheels and an angry new face.

As the cover comes off and the full-blown car is seen for the first time by anyone without a Ford-employee badge, the word “whooaa!” unexpectedly and involuntarily jumps from my throat — all journalistic impartiality and self-respect lost in the process. Like a teenager suddenly close to Justin Bieber, I rush to the car and touch it, just to be the first auto writer in the world to lay hands on the substantially revised Mustang, a car that for decades has captured the hearts and minds of not just car lovers but entire countries who covet what this car represents: freedom.

2018 Ford Mustang

Indeed, having sold 9.8 million Mustangs since 1965 and now selling in 140 countries, Ford and its Mustang are more than a car company building an automobile, more than just a make and model, more than Lee Iacocca could have ever imagined — why every revision to the car is measured by the impact it will make on such a cultural icon. For 2018, those changes are significant, the first major update since the 2015 Mustang so drastically improved the car with a look that respected its predecessors yet at the same time ushered the Mustang into the 21st century, bringing an independent rear suspension, fabulous power and an interior that didn’t disappoint.

Most significantly, the Mustang’s base V6 is gone for 2018, replaced by the formerly optional 2.3-litre four-cylinder turbo that gets a bump up from its current 320 lb.-ft. of torque. How much of an increase has not been revealed. The Mustang GT’s 5.0L V8 remains, but gains direct and port injection. It, too, gets a boost in horsepower and torque. Again, Ford engineers would not say by how much, only that it was “significant.” Significant enough to feel from the driver’s seat? I asked. “Yes,” replied Tom Barnes, Mustang’s engineering manager.

That extra power necessitated stronger transmissions, Barnes says, and the V8 and 2.3L EcoBoost now get optional 10-speed automatics derived from those 10-speeds currently rolling out in the F-150 and Raptor. Better, the six-speed manual from the GT350 moves down to 5.0L car, with a a twin-disc clutch and dual-mass flywheel. If you’ve ever modulated the silky clutch on the GT350, you will love this set up.

2018 Ford Mustang

Also from the GT350 is optional MagneRide damping that allows for serious handling without sacrificing ride quality, bringing a blend of track ability to everyday driving in a regular GT. All Mustangs regardless of engine can now be ordered with a performance pack that brings bigger Brembo brakes and a suite of handling goodies, and MagneRide can be ordered on those cars that get the performance pack. Michelin has even developed new tires for the performance pack on the new Mustang — Pilot Sport 4 S. With all these components moving down the model ladder, you can bet the GT350 is going to become even more of a track weapon.

Outside all 2018 Mustangs, however, the aluminum vented hood has been lowered, increasing visibility to the fenders from the driver’s seat; but the most striking exterior changes are the standard LED front headlamps in new housings, LED turns and park lamps with optional LED fogs, all fitted into a front end taken, again, from the GT350. Rear LED tail lights are also revised.

The GT will also be louder than the outgoing car due to changes in legislation that allowed for more of that delicious exhaust for which the Mustang has long been known, activated by a new “active performance” exhaust that controls a flap in the pipes. GT cars get large quad, chrome exhaust tips, whereas a dual-tip exhaust is standard for EcoBoost ‘stangs.

2018 Ford Mustang

Inside, the layout remains familiar — except for a stunning new 12-inch LCD digital cluster that can be personalized according to what the driver wants in views that range from normal to track to sport. Similar to Audi’s virtual cockpit, the cluster eschews analog gauges for a colourful digital display, but the graphics are sharp, clear and concise. Line lock, a feature that allows for some impressive burnouts, remains, too. Wahoo!

Several of the cockpit’s touch points, parts of the seats and trim, have been improved, Ford says, and new features such as a heated steering wheel and automatic high-beam assist join new safety features such as lane departure warning and pre-collision assist with pedestrian detection. New wheels and new colours — but no more Grabber Blue — round out the changes to the 2018 Mustang, a car that continues to reinforce its place in the world of affordable sports cars.